This refers to the editorial, “Pruning the VIP culture” (April 21) Though there were half-hearted attempts by previous Governments to regulate the laal batti culture, nobody dared to take a sweeping decision like the Modi Government has done. A strong leader backs his words with action, and the Prime Minister has re-affirmed that he is a leader who delivers. The laal batti culture was so deeply enshrined in the minds of many of our dignitaries that it was nigh on impossible to even imagine them moving around without a vehicle sporting a beacon.
Successive Governments could never implement a ban on the colonial legacy because there seemed to be a thin line between ‘top to bottom’ hierarchy in India what with all elected representatives, from a corporator to an MP, considering themselves VVIPs. Unlike the present Modi Government, the past dispensations lacked a robust leadership which could propel top politicians to see reasons behind shunning the laal battis.